AI Governance Is the Biggest Barrier to SMB AI Adoption
Walk into almost any SMB or mid‑market organization this year and you’ll hear the same two sentences: “We need an AI strategy,” followed moments later by, “…but legal said no.” That contradiction is not a communication problem. It’s a governance problem. And it’s the real reason your AI pilots are stalling. Shadow AI – employees using unapproved AI tools without oversight – has already become a major source of data exposure and compliance risk for SMBs. Shadow AI significantly increases data exposure, compliance gaps, and operational risk for smaller organizations, and Mimecast’s State of Human Risk 2026 Report found that 80% of organizations worry about data leaking through generative AI, yet 60% still have no specific strategy for addressing AI‑driven threats. The organizations that close that gap will be the…
